Log Horizon Episode 25
Buckeye: And so, season 1 ends with season 2 coming in the fall with a new enemy emerging. The one who pulled all the strings is a fox lady named Nureha who is able to change her appearance. That was a very nice episode to end the first season there seeing how close Shiroe and his comrades are there at the end. Of course, there was no way Shiroe was going to leave his comrades who have supported him all this time.
Overall, this is one of the best shows of the year, and this show will ultimately be stacked up against Sword Art Online since the idea on the surface is the same. While it is lacking in the unbelievable story that SAO (at least the first half) has and the animation quality, the execution and buildup are what Log Horizon does better than many other shows. It doesn’t give away the big picture at the beginning and instead, it slowly builds an intriguing story where in-game politics and chemistry between the players are the main focus. This approach made it much more fun to watch than with the SAO formula. That said, this show is the one I had been looking forward to the most, and I came away with the potential fulfilled. Looking forward to season 2 this fall.
Hitsugi Amachi: Have to love those evil glasses-wearing faces in this show.
And now, it’s a long wait until the Fall, when we’ll be able to visit the world of Elder Tale again.
I was slightly spoiled about our little guest there, though they didn’t reveal everything about her just yet. It’s not a spoiler to say there’s more to Nureha than what we’ve been told so far, because, come on, you have to expect that from Mamare Tohno. At least we’ve learned something: Shiroe has been holding out on all of us the amount of information he really has about the entire land of Yamato and his knowledge of a possible way home, or at least out of Elder Tale. One wonders if he’s also holding out on revealing what he knows about Nureha, making it seem like he doesn’t remember her when he might well remember her all too well. Never give away information that your enemy most wants to know.
A good show.
Jun Kuga: Well [Nureha] doesn’t want Shiroe to help find a way out, that’s for certain.
Given what she said about her real self, being thrust back in to the life of a nobody is in no way better than being the dictator of an entire region, so why would she let him research a way out? Also if he was to go with her, she would hold power of life over him as she owns the cathedral…
Log Horizon though has been a real surprise throughout. It shouldn’t have been in all reality, but I guess that most of us entered episode one expacting a show that tried to out-swordart Sword Art Online, and ended up with a really indepth world set in a realistic MMO environment.
Plus Akatsuki.
stardf29: First of all, the episode itself. Shiroe takes down Malves with straight-up political outmaneuvering (and the help of fellow Guild members), and Nureha presents herself as the real “villain” here, though definitely a more nuanced one–and one we’ll probably see more of next season.
And it’s nice to see Shiroe’s growth here: he knows now not to just rely on himself and to work with others to accomplish things. If maybe he previously would have felt hurt having to play the “bad cop” and having people dislike him for it, he seems to feel more at ease about it here thanks to his guild mates being there for him. (I think he’s also shipping Crusty x Lenessia. 
…
Wow, did this show turn out to be something. What I came into expecting just a fun but probably not mind-blowing diversion that hopefully would not collapse upon itself like other MMORPG-based shows did ended up actually being one of the most thoughtful, well-written, and engaging shows yet. I am really glad this show went the way it did, focusing on worldbuilding, character development, and strategic maneuvering, to craft what is in my opinion the gold standard for MMORPG-based shows. I am most definitely very looking forward to Season 2 this fall.
General Hentai: This was a good show. Contrary to the opinion of many, I enjoyed SAO better. Sure they’re apples and oranges, but I put SAO ahead. There’s been no sense of any real threat in this series like there was in SAO. The comparison I keep thinking of is Futari H, which is a combo of ecchi manga/sex manual, with Log horizon being a combo of adventure, MMORPG instruction manual. But I’m very much looking forward to next season.
Sly05: Like others, I went into this series not expecting much. It looked like a poor man’s SAO, but I ended up pleasantly surprised with how good it was. Even though Shiroe is definitely the stronger of the PCs, I enjoyed the fact that it was more of a team effort. Nobody felt like they existed just to comment on how awesome Shiroe is and pretty much everyone had a chance to shine.
I did sort of miss the ever present danger that made the best parts of SAO compelling, but I found the narrative of Log Horizon much better overall. The announcement of a sequel has me excited given the revelations of the this last episode.
cxt217: Final thoughts on the episode/arc: Episode 25 was pretty good, but the final arc was pretty weak, all in all. Part of it was probably due to the nature of the material covered (Festival stories really should take one episode.), and part was due to setting up for the announcement of Season 2. As a practical matter, the series should have ended with the last arc, if Log Horizon was going to be a stand-alone title….But fortunately, that is not the case.
Final thoughts on Season 1: I got into Log Horizon later than most and was not expecting much. But it turns out to have been the surprise hit of the season for me. It does not have the initial story impact/excitement, art quality, or soundtrack as Sword Art Online, but it has a MUCH better story that is developed a heck of a lot better, with a more believable cast and greater attention to the details of the backstory. And of course, it has none of the completely infuriating karma Houdini aspects that thoroughly soured me on SAO (Most of the things SAO did better was due to a better funded production, not to the nature of the story. SAO may have the better production team than LH, but Mamare Touno is a much better writer than Reki Kawahara.). Thus, Log Horizon is a very entertaining and thoroughly engrossing series that does a better job than most drawing the attention of the viewer and holding it. Small wonder that Sentai is excited over it.
As usual for Log Horizon, the last episode telegraphed a few details about Season 2 at the end, beside presenting Nureha. At least one of them is a call back to earlier in the series.
The major concern I have now with Season 2 is the material that will be covered. Season 1 covered the material in Volume 1 to 5 of the light novel series. There are currently 7 volumes available. Even at the most optimistic, Season 2 will cover the released Volumes 6 and 7, and unreleased volume 8 and 9. Unless they want to do the only major side story released, I do not see how Season 2 can get to 2 cours.
But that is all in the future. Season 2 is coming out later this year, and I am looking forward to it.
Hitsugi Amachi: It doesn’t necessarily have to be 2 cour. There have been shows in the past that have been three cour long, so it’s not without precedent.
The not as great other possibility is that there will be anime-original filler, but that is not necessarily a disaster if Touno himself is involved in setting up the basic plot and story development. That would not be so bad an outcome.
bctaris: It also wouldn’t be so bad, since it could see Touno having to work more in consort with other writers in the development stage. This could help in some areas he’s not as developed with, like mature female characters.
